The Beginning of Us
by xmollymayx
Summary: Stu Bennett's got a new neighbour, and she isn't what he expects. Will a certain young lady transform the life of this seemingly harsh wrestler, or will some things just never change? Wade Barrett/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys, so I know it's terrible that I haven't uploaded any new chapters of 'Waiting for you' yet, but this idea kept eating away at me until I wrote it, and so it was in my mind and now it's on the internet for all of my lovely readers **** Plus everybody loves this man deep down so I think we all win here**

One of his large hands held the pile of fashion magazines, whilst the other picked up the one on the top, his long fingers bending it slightly, almost crumpling the pages before he realised, and dropped the magazine back on top of the pile. "Bloody unbelievable," he muttered under his breath, his harsh English accent giving the words some venom as he spoke. He read the name's of the magazines written in huge, brightly coloured fonts: Vogue, Elle, Italian Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, there was no way he had ordered these. He moaned again as he walked out of his apartment, after only 1 minute of being home, and down the corridor to his new neighbour. The first thing he had wanted to do when he finally got home was to make a nice cup of tea and then watch hours of mindlessly boring television, maybe even fall asleep for a while. He hadn't really anticipated meeting his new neighbour so soon, in fact, he hadn't anticipated seeing his new neighbour at all. His last neighbours had been perfect for him: silent. In fact, he couldn't remember ever speaking more than 10 words to them, and that was when they had told him they were moving. The last thing he had wanted when he finally got back home after months of travelling was to introduce himself to some new, fancy neighbour, who would no doubt be either snobbish or the overtly friendly type who wants to come over every other night and 'bond' together, and quite frankly he hated the very thought of it.

It didn't take to long before he had reached his neighbour's apartment door. The light coloured wood door standing in front of him had the number 17 on it . There was no sound coming from inside, maybe he got lucky and popped round while they were out, that way he could just dump the magazines in front of their door and go back to his. Just as he was about to place the pile to the side of the door on the carpeted floor, he heard a loud bang from inside. His new neighbour was in, and he could hardly leave now, not when he knew they were home. He may not have wanted to see them, but he was a gentleman after all. He supported the weight of the 4 magazines with one hand, and balled his hand into a fist, pounding the door 3 times. The sound of somebody moving towards the door could be heard, and shortly the door was swung open by the 23 year old who stood before him. He had never been one to judge a person by their looks, but the girl standing before him was simply stunning, he thought. Her long, brown, wavy hair had previously been pulled into a bun on top of her head, but had slipped down slightly so it looked more relaxed, but her bright hazel eyes stared up at him with the energy of several hundred batteries, framed by long, black eyelashes that gave her the eyes of a doe. She must've been about 5 foot 9, but he still towered over her slim frame. Her legs were almost disproportionately long and toned, being flaunted effortlessly by the pair of denim cut-off shorts she wore, and the vest top she wore matched the colour of the grey knee high sock she was sporting, yet she wasn't wearing any shoes, which he thought was slightly odd. Her rosy lips and almost green eyes complimented her lily-white skin, and he could tell that she wasn't wearing any makeup. Yet she looked remarkable. "Hi" she spoke happily, she had an accent, and he was almost certain he vaguely recognised it, but she hadn't said enough to reveal it properly yet.

"Hey, I erm, I live down the hall, and your post must've come to mine instead of yours." He briefly explained as she glanced down at the pile of magazines in his hand.

"Oh yeah, sorry that's mine." She replied taking the pile from him and looking down at them, and the accent was unmistakeable, a rather posh, southern English accent. He couldn't help but smirk slightly at her, this new neighbour might be better than he had first anticipated. "I'll call them to make sure it doesn't happen again," she replied, looking up at him once more.

"Ok, yeah. " He said, not quite knowing what to say next. The brief moment of silence was broken by his next offer "Listen, I know moving is hard, so if you need an extra set of hands, I'll be more than happy to help carry some stuff up for you, just knock on my door." He nodded to the inside of her apartment that he could see behind her, and it was practically empty, except for a couch and six boxes, and there was no doubt that a girl of her size wouldn't be able to carry something like a table up 4 flights of stairs.. "I'm at number 16," he hastily added.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," she replied, smiling at him.

"Well, I best be off," He said as he began to turn around, "Oh god, where are my manners, my name's Stu." He said, turning around and facing her again.

"Yeah, I recognise you off the tv." She smirked up at him. She didn't strike him as the type to watch wrestling, but today was turning out to be a day of pleasant surprises. "I'm Harper, it's a silly name I know."

"Well, ok Harper, I guess I'll be seeing you around." He spoke before turning on his heel and beginning to walk off, his long strides moving him quickly down the corridor.

"I'll see you later then. Wade." She shouted after him, giggling slightly, and he couldn't help but smile.

**I know, I know, I always make the first chapters really short, but it's just here to set the tone. If you have time, please leave a review telling me how I'm doing in your opinion, it means a lot to me, and it makes Wade smile for almost 10 whole seconds. Which must be some kind of record. **


	2. Chapter 2 : Where hatred waits

**Hi guys! So first things first, a massive thank you to xj0j0x for reviewing chapter 1 of this story, words cannot explain how much I appreciate reviews. Anyway her's the next chapter! (ps I hope you realise by now that I pretty much specialise in short chapters, but I do try to make them longer!)**

**Disclaimer: (I realise that I never wrote a disclaimer in the first chapter so here goes) I do in no way, shape or form own Wade Barrett or anything to do with that lovely specimen of man, I do however own Harper and Ryan, but I would trade them any day for Mr Barrett.  
**

Harper awoke the next morning to the sound of somebody knocking on her door. Picking up her iPhone that she had left on the box next to her she unlocked the home screen and groaned as she saw that it was only 8:30 in the morning. Maybe if she just ignored them they would go away.

"I know you're in there Harper," Shouted a man's voice, his accent showing a hint of amusement. Recognising the voice immediately she jumped out of bed as quickly as any girl who has had only 4 hours sleep could. "Wake up sleepy head, I'm not leaving until you let me in." he laughed through the door.

"Shut up, I'm coming," she laughed back as she traipsed out of her bedroom, swerving to avoid bumping into the multitude of huge boxes that stood in front of her.

"Touchy," he sarcastically quipped back as she navigated her way through the minefield of bubble wrap and packing peanuts that was her floor. Even though she was 2 rooms and a door away from him she could practically see his smirk growing, exposing his shiny white teeth. Stepping over the small pile of magazines that her new neighbour had given back to her, she pulled her hair down from the ponytail that she had left it in, her brown hair undulating over her shoulders. "Ps, I bought coffee," the male shouted through the door again as she quickly made her way towards the other side of it "now hurry up my hand hurts from holding this cup." Her hand touched the cool silver door handle as she unlocked the door.

Hesitating slightly with nerves, she pushed down the handle and pulled the door towards her."Ryan," she whispered, smiling from ear to ear at him. "Hello you," he muttered as he walked forwards and enveloped her slim frame into a hug, being careful to extend the hand holding the coffee away from her. Resting his head on top of hers, Ryan closed his eyes and inhaled her sweet scent. He kissed her head lightly and looked down at her with fond eyes,"I missed you," he whispered in a low tone to her.

"I missed you too" she whispered back as he released his grip on her.

Ryan looked over her shoulder, "so this is the place you loved so much eh? It's nice." He commented "Sorry I wasn't here to help you move in."

"Don't worry about it, the move was actually surprisingly easy." She smiled as he handed her a Styrofoam cup of coffee to her. "Thank you. I've got all the boxes up I just need to get them unpacked, will you help get the bed put together today?"

"Yeah sure, but where did you sleep last night if you had no bed?" he asked, slightly concerned.

"Well the couch didn't come in a box so I just slept on that, not that I slept much anyway."

"No wonder, you spent the night on a couch!" he told her, laughing slightly as he sat on the couch in question. "I'll put the bed together today, don't want for you to spend another night on this thing eh?"

"Thank you, you're the bestest boyfriend ever." She said sweetly, putting her hands into his outstretched ones and allowing herself to be lightly pulled into Ryan's lap.

"I do try." He muttered to her as she began to doze off against his chest. With a smile on his face he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to capture his body.

* * *

Harper woke up cold. Yes, she was only wearing one of Ryan's T-shirts and some bed shorts, but she was very cold. Colder than usual. She felt around the bed, and upon the realisation that she was actually on a couch she opened her eyes slowly. She was facing the back of her large, cream couch, her hands curled in font of her, she was tempted to just fall asleep again, but then another shiver reminded her that she felt colder than ice. After a few more seconds her sleep deprived mind eventually realised that she wasn't on her boyfriend's lap like she was when she fell asleep, and that her boyfriend was not keeping her warm like he was when she fell asleep. Sitting up slowly she heard Ryan's American accent cut through the silence, he was thanking someone. Standing up and walking towards the source of his voice she walked into what was meant to be her bedroom, where she found her boyfriend, surrounded by bed parts. Hanging up the phone, Ryan looked over towards the doorway when he heard the noise of footsteps. There stood his girlfriend wearing nothing but one of his shirts and possibly the shortest pair of shorts man had ever created. Ryan smirked to himself. "Afternoon," he nodded towards her smiling, "nice nap?" He asked as he slipped the phone into his jean pockets.

"Yeah thanks, is it the afternoon already?" She asked wearily and groaned when he nodded. "What are you doing?" She asked, drawing the conversation away from her tiredness.

"Well, I was putting together your bed, but then I thought to myself 'Hey Ryan, isn't this bed gonna be real small' to which I answered yes, which is about the time I realised that you've been sent the wrong sized bed. But don't worry your pretty little butt, I already called the company and they're going to drop off the right one for you tomorrow. Bad news I won't be here to assemble it." He explained.

"Aww thank you," she spoke to her boyfriend walking towards him and hugging him. "Don't you have to be at work soon?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, about now. I should get going," he sighed walking towards the front door of the apartment. "I promise you, it's gonna be just you and me tonight."

" I look forward to it." Harper smiled as she opened the door for her boyfriend. Ryan bent down slightly and pressed his lips against Harper's for a few seconds. "Right, I best get going then." Ryan sighed, "You just wait till tonight. You, me and a couch." He winked.

"Shut up." Harper giggled as Ryan stepped out of the door just as the door opposite hers opened, revealing the huge British man on the other side. The brit looked at the man standing in front of his new neighbour with a stony expression, before nodding towards her. "Afternoon Harper," he said as he looked into her eyes and smiled slightly for a split second before looking back at the man in front of him.

"Hello," she smiled back at him. "Ryan this is my new neighbour, Stu. Stu this is my boyfriend, Ryan." Ryan nodded towards Stu, but neither man said a word.

"Anyway, I've got to get going," Ryan said to Harper, breaking the awkward silence that had quickly crashed into the corridor. "I'll see you later." He almost whispered as Stu's door behind him closed loudly.

"Yeah, have a good day" she said as he kissed her once more, before swiftly leaving her and walking off down the corridor. Harper looked over at the door opposite her, and found that her neighbour had retreated back inside to his apartment, which was odd considering he had only opened his door a few seconds earlier to leave. She looked at the wooden door in front of her before she slinked back into her own apartment and closed the door firmly.

* * *

Stu needed to leave, but he couldn't risk running into Harper again on the way out. Instead of going out to his meeting he had returned back to his flat for just a few minutes until he was sure that Harper was gone. But not just Harper, that goddamned boyfriend of hers as well. He didn't like that Ryan one bit, and as much of a gentleman as he was, he couldn't help but label Harper's boyfriend as an arsehole. He didn't know why, he had only just met Ryan, yet there was something that caused Stu to think he was a prick. Maybe it was how Ryan hadn't said a word to greet him once he had been introduced. He concluded that it was probably for that reason as he looked through the peephole in his door to see if Harper was still there. She wasn't, and so he had to leave before she realised that he was avoiding her like a moody teenager. He shook his head as he quietly opened his front door and stepped out in to the corridor once more, he wasn't avoiding Harper, why would he want to do that, she seemed nice enough, and the fact that she was English, which raised her in his estimations. Not to mention the woman was drop dead gorgeous. No, he wasn't avoiding her; he was avoiding the awkward conversation that would probably fall between him and her, the topic of which would probably be that boyfriend of hers. Closing his door behind him, he slid the key into the lock and turned it smoothly, locking his apartment away from the world. As he walked towards the elevator, he turned his head to look at Harper's door. He didn't hate Ryan because he didn't say a word to him. He knew full well why he hated Ryan. He hated him because he was jealous of him. He hated him because he had the gorgeous girl who lived opposite him, Harper. Stopping to wait outside the lift door he looked once again at Harper's door. He hated to say it but he was disappointed. Disappointed that she was already taken, and disappointed that she would probably never be his.

**As I said before, reviews are greatly appreciated by me, so if you have time can you please just tell me what you're thinking about this story so far. Plus, they make Wade feel like somebody cares about him.**

**SUPER IMPORTANT NEWS! : It's not actually that important, but I'm thinking about writing some oneshot requests for people. You don't have to be following me, I will do all requests that I get as long as they are wrestling related. Any wrestler, any scenario, any OC. It can be your own idea, a songfic or whatever other wonderful idea you might have. You name it I will do it for you. If you are interested then just PM me a brief outline of what you want and I'll get back to you as soon as possible! Thanks!**

**Molly**


	3. Chapter 3 : Inviting in the devil

**Hello again people! Sorry It's been a while, my computer got taken away to be fixed this week which was just about as hellish as it sounds. So, happy belated Halloween! I didn't do anything except watch part of a Saw film, which was a huge mistake as I ended up crying hysterically. Anyway, here is a brand new chapter for all of you, so enjoy! (Sorry about any spelling errors I may or may not have made, I did proof read but you can never be sure!)**

The sound of the letters on the keyboard clicking resonated throughout her empty apartment. Well, as Harper supposed, the apartment was hardly empty anymore, during the day she had managed to transfer all of her clothes into the wardrobe, the television finally worked and the living room was no longer a jungle of boxes, instead what looked like a small cardboard version of New York presided over the corner of the room. The couches had tables next to them with magazines already strewn over their wooden surfaces, and the rug had been put down on the laminate floor. All in all, the moving process was going well, and set to get even better in roughly an hour or two when her bed finally arrived after having to sleep on a couch for the past two nights. She took an elegant sip of her tea as she sat back, her fingers leaving the keyboard and her legs crossing on the chair she sat on. She read the page of words in front of her, and finally, after hours of work she felt content with what she had written. Saving the document she opened up her email account, revealing several emails that concerned interns had sent her, questions that her employees wanted to ask her, and a reminder from her boss that she had a meeting this week.- nothing major. Right now she was exhausted though, so they could wait for an hour or so more. Deciding that she needed a change of scenery she threw on a pair of shoes and left her apartment, only for a few minutes she assured herself, the deliverymen would be round to deliver her bed shortly she told herself, but her mind knew that she desperately needed chocolate, and besides she would be back before they arrived. Grabbing some money she locked the door and quickly walked to the elevator.

* * *

Stu was startled by the sound of knocking on his door. He only had a few days of holiday left, and he wanted to spend it relaxing in peace. As he slowly rose to his full height and sauntered over to the door, placing his beer on a table as he walked passed it, he hoped that whoever was knocking on his door was of significance, and that so help him if it was a door-to-door salesman he would probably throw a newspaper at them. He looked through the peephole in the door and muttered dark threats under his breath upon seeing the two men standing outside of his door in their dark blue IKEA uniforms. Opening the door, the men in front of him looked up, their faces contorted to mild shock, not expecting the wooden door to reveal such a huge man. The first man with a clipboard in his hand spoke up in a bored manner. "Good afternoon sir, we are sorry to disturb you," he began, not looking sorry to have disturbed anybody at all "we're here to inform you that we had a delivery for a Miss Harper Bailey."

"Yeah she doesn't live here, she lives there." Stu quipped pointing to his neighbour's door, clearly irritated.

"We know sir, she isn't in, so we will be giving you the confirmation of delivery, all you need is to sign here and inform Miss Bailey of what's happened and everything will be fine," The same man drawled, clearly still bored, as he thrusted a clipboard and pen up into Stu's large hand, "Sign on the line please."

Stu looked at the man in front of him up and down, this was exactly what he didn't want when he got new neighbours, but remembering who his beautiful, English neighbour was he picked up the pen and scrawled his signature on the line.

"Thank you sir, have a nice day." The man muttered, quickly snatching the clipboard back and turning on his heel to leave.

"Wait a second, where is the delivery for Harper?" The loud, British voice boomed down the corridor.

"Oh it was too large for the elevator and to heavy for us to get up the stairs, so we just left it in the lobby" the first delivery man answered, not even bothering to look around as he answered, stepping into the lift. "Have a nice day." He finished as the elevator doors closed.

"Oh bloody hell" Stu muttered as he snapped the small IKEA pen that the man had left behind.

* * *

A bed. Stu had expected a tall lamp or something when the man said it wouldn't fit in the lift, well he wasn't too sure what he was expecting actually, but he certainly wasn't expecting a bed. A bloody well bed. He was a gentleman of course, which I what he told himself when he first saw the huge box waiting for his neighbour in the lobby, but pushing a bed up the stairs was pushing this just a tad to far, and yes, he had checked multiple times and the cursed thing certainly wouldn't fit inside the lift. And it wasn't as if it was a small bed either. Oh no, it was a bloody full sized king bed, and the frame was probably just a lump of solid iron judging by the weight of the god-damned thing. But he couldn't let poor Harper do it, the girl may have been tall, but she was still tiny. But it was done now, the bed was up the stairs, outside Harper's door. And he was so close to reaching his door, to finally being able to watch the football, when he heard footsteps behind him. "Hey," that beautiful accent said quietly. Not being too sure whether the comment was directed at him or not he turned around, only to see Harper stood behind him. She stood there with three bars of chocolate in one hand, looking utterly gorgeous in leggings and a jumper that was way to big for her. Looking at the jumper in more detail, he decided it was definitely a man's jumper, probably Ryan's. Even thinking of that twit made him aggravated. God how he hated that man. "Hi" he replied cracking just a small smile at the girl before him. Her hazel eyes flickered over to the massive box stationed in front of her door.

"Yeah, that was just delivered for you, here I have the letter somewhere" he stated, frisking himself in a panicked state to find where it had gone. He found the crumpled bit of paper in his pocket, fished it out and handed it to the English girl in front of him, their hands touching for the briefest of moments.

"Damn" she muttered under her breath "I'm so sorry, they said they wouldn't be here for a few hours, I wouldn't have gone out if I had known. I really am sorry_"

"It's fine, it doesn't matter." Stu chuckled. It was sweet how apologetic she was seeing as it wasn't exactly her fault; it was the fault of those morons at IKEA. "Do you need some help getting that in your flat?"

"I doubt that I'll be able to even budge that thing by myself, but I'll get my friend to come over, she'll help me get it in."

"Nonsense, I'm here now all it needs is a little nudge inside your door I might as well give it a go instead of you getting somebody round just to do it."

Harper looked up and Stu, her eyes looking slightly unsure at first, but as he smiled at her she broke. "Okay, I would appreciate that." She smiled, but he had noticed the audible change in volume of her voice and that she was now speaking at a level barely louder than a whisper. She looked back up at him again: "As long as you're sure it won't be too heavy for you."

"It'll be fine, I'm a big boy. Besides I've already pushed the cursed thing up 8 flights of stairs, I'm sure another few feet won't matter." Shit, he hadn't meant to tell her about him bringing the bed up, he really didn't want to come across as her new, creepy stalker.

"You pushed this up here?" Harper questioned.

"Erm, yes, well the men from IKEA came and they hadn't bought it up and it was too big for the lift and I couldn't let you do it." He managed to force the words out in the most calm way that he could manage, but he still stuttered like an old car attempting to start. "I mean I'm not saying that you couldn't do it, I'm sure you could've done it if you wanted to." He stuttered slightly again.

"God, I've only been here not even a week and I've got you running around like a blue-arsed-fly for me," she giggled and he smiled at her use of the expression, that and the fact that she wasn't hitting him or calling the police, "and I wouldn't have been able to get this huge thing up the stairs. Come on in, I'll pay you back for your hard work in tea and sexual favours." She joked and smiled at him as she pushed her key into her front door's lock.

"Well, I don't think your boyfriend would be too pleased about the last part, but tea sounds brilliant actually." He smirked as she held the door open for him to push the bed through. He stopped pushing when he had gotten a safe distance into her apartment and he heard the door shut behind him. Harper led him through to the kitchen area: "I know this place is a tip right now but I've been working, sleeping and buying chocolate all day." She spoke to him and he laughed, "How do you take your tea?"

"Just a dash of milk please." He motioned as she put the kettle on, "I've got to tell you I'm excited, I haven't had a real English person make me tea for a long time, except for myself, of course, having said that I am pretty crap at it." He explained as she got the tea bags out. "English people make good tea," he mumbled, almost to himself

"No pressure then." She smirked to herself. "Just as a side note you should be privileged I'm letting you in my house considering that I hardly know you. For all I know you could just be a more attractive version of Hannibal Lecter."

He laughed at her accusation as she poured the hot water from the kettle into two cups. Leaning against the wall he watched her as she made the tea, she certainly was a very attractive girl.

"Right, here you go." She said handing a cup to him, "Do you want to go through to the living room?" She asked and he nodded. Walking back through to the living room she sat down on the couch, and patted the space next to her as she bought her two long legs up on the couch to cross them. He sat down next to her, towering over her again as she leant back slightly in a casual manner, sipping her tea.

"Right then, tell me about yourself." He said and smiled down at her.

**Ok so there we have it, this is mainly like a filler chapter, next time we're going to learn some more about Harper, and then it's going to hopefully start getting good. I'm so excited for the ideas I'm having for this story. And yes, being English myself I will possibly be throwing some English expressions and sayings in this story, some of which you may have already noticed, so if anybody doesn't understand any of them leave a comment and I'll give you some definitions. As I previously mentioned I am going to be doing some One-shot requests (I spoke about it in more depth at the bottom of my note on Chapter 2) so drop me a message if you're interested in that. As I said before I thrive off of reviews, you guys are all being so lovely at reviewing and I appreciate it loads so if you have a few seconds I would love to hear your thoughts. I'd like to thank lilywhite25 and xj0j0x for being lovely and reviewing. Plus the reviews make Ryback crack a smile (and who doesn't like Ryback?)**

**Molly xxx**


	4. Chapter 4 : Not so different

**Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry it's been a while, I've been ill, suffered from writers block, and eaten way to much turkey to write lately, but alas, chapter 4 is finally up! I hope you guys had a good christmas too. Enjoy!**

**Thank you so much to __****xj0j0x ****for sticking with me with this story so far! I really appreciate it!**

**A/N: I should probably mention Ryan is completely fictional, and is not supposed to be Ryback. As always, I only own Harper and Ryan, WWE can work their own magic with everybody else.**

"I'm not very good at talking about myself for too long, I'm not too interesting." Harper began, slightly timidly, her gaze dropping to look at the pink mug steaming from the hot of the tea in her hand for a few seconds. Stu could really see that this girl was capable of being very shy, either that or she was just insecure. After a pause of a few seconds she looked back up again. "Well, I guess you've noticed I'm not American." She began, smiling again. "I grew up in the south of England, near a town called Portsmouth, although as you can see I don't have the typical chav's accent." She giggled slightly, moving one of her hands away from the mug to push some of her brown hair out of her face. The small dark silver studs in her ear twinkled slightly fro the light of the room, and her hair glistened with an almost golden hue.

"I realized that there wasn't really anything for me in the town I grew up in, people would never hear of my name if I stayed there, people would never know of me or remember me. I know it sounds like a cheesy opening for a musical, but I guess I have this fear of never accomplishing anything with my life and not being remembered for anything after I'm dead, so I moved up to London when I was 19.

I had originally planned to go to university, despite not having a clue what I wanted to study, but I got offered an apprenticeship at Elle, a fashion magazine" she explained for the less than feminine man sat in front of her "so I didn't end up going to uni. At first I was just doing really menial jobs, tidying things away, working at the front desk, I guess I only accepted the job so that I could earn a little bit of money whilst I worked out what I wanted to do. It was only when I was speaking to one of the managers of the company in the elevator one morning did that I got offered a permanent position. She's one of these tall, willowy ladies with a pale face and a long nose that you never see without sunglasses and has the tendency to overuse the word '_darling_'; and she terrifies everybody. Apparently she saw something in me that day and asked me to write a short piece for the website, just to see what I was capable of, apparently it was never supposed to go further than that. I had always been good at English at school, so I was pretty confident in my ability, I mean the piece I had to write was only like 6 lines long, and that's where it all started She liked what she saw and I started to write more and more for her. I guess I managed to work my way up the ladder until I got offered a managerial job in America, and now I'm the beauty director over here, which basically means I do all sorts of awesome stuff. But this isn't what I expected to be doing in a million years, I always thought I'd end up studying modern history or criminal psychology at uni, or just work in McDonalds for the rest of my life. Still, I watch criminal minds and I eat more fast food than I care to admit, so I would say I've still managed to accomplish my life's calling." He chuckled at her admission causing Harper to look deeply into his eyes for a split second. "Erm, what else is there about me? I'm an only child so no annoying siblings, I'm 23 years old, I love wrestling and I'm a huge movie geek. That's pretty much it!"

"Wow, that's really impressive." Stu began, startled at the girl's accomplishments. He could really tell that she had a nice personality, instead of appearing shy like she first had she now seemed like a friendly, bubbly girl. "Is this your first house out here?" he asked

"Yeah, before I bought this apartment I'd been staying out here for a few months in various hotels, which is actually where I met Ryan."

Stu held in the groan and flurry of expletives that sprang to mind whenever he thought of that blundering oaf that was Harper's boyfriend. "Oh" he managed to force out nonchalantly, trying to not sound angry or annoyed, yet he couldn't think of a suitable change of conversation, so he was probably going to have to sit through the torrent of love for Ryan that would more than likely be spewing from Harper's mouth soon, and quite frankly, he didn't want to hear it. But he would have to. He was a gentleman after all. "So you haven't been going out with each other for long then?" he asked, trying to gather as much information about this 'Ryan" chap as he could.

"No, only about seven months, but he is really nice, so sweet and caring. Plus he puts up with my crazy so I can't really complain." She giggled, looking back into Stu's eyes. She noticed the odd colour of his irises, neither blue nor green, something in between. They were similar to her eyes, a murky mixture of colours, except hers were more golden. Realising that she had been staring into his eyes for what could be considering an awkward amount of time she quickly flicked her gaze back to the mug in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she looked back up at him and smiled "How was the tea?"

"Brilliant, actually." He spoke quickly, he was glad hat she had broken the awkward silence that had fallen after he had finished staring into her eyes for what could actually be considering as being an eternity. He couldn't help it, the girl was clearly a natural beauty, with a great sense of humor and a sweet demeanor. He couldn't help liking her, but he concluded that he should probably make an effort to not like her too much. She had a boyfriend after all and her didn't want to come across as being plain creepy. "I might have to make use of your tea making facilities more often." He joked.

"Well, feel free to pop round any time you like" she smiled "us English have got to stick together. Plus you managed to get that damn bed all the way up here for me so I think you're still owed a lot of tea."

"I'll bear that in mind." He smiled as he looked over to the large cardboard box that he had pushed into her room. "Do you need some help with that?" he pointed over to the bed's temporary cardboard home.

Harper turned her head to see what her neighbour was talking about. Seeing the IKEA box, she looked back at Stu " Oh no it's fine," she began "Ryan's going to put it together when he gets back in a few days."

"Where are you sleeping until he's back?" he asked.

"On the couch, but it's fine, honestly. It's actually quite comfortable, I've slept on it for the past few nights anyway."

"Look, I have nothing better to do" he started, lying straight away, sure he had missed the first football match by now, but there were another two after it which he had been planning to watch when he woke up this morning. "and I know that you're being polite now because you don't want to impose, which is fine. But if you do want to bed up by tonight I will help you put it up." He wondered why he was being so kind to this girl, only a few days ago he didn't even want to meet her, and now he wanted to assemble furniture with her. Did he want to assemble the furniture? No of course not, he thought again, I'm just doing the gentlemanly thing.

Harper's golden eyes flickered between the box and the door to her bedroom. She really did want a bed; the couch was too small for her long, fidgety legs. She didn't want to be awkward, but her mind argued that he didn't mind doing it for her.

"Okay, if it's not too much to ask I would really appreciate getting the bed up by tonight, if that's honestly fine with you." She cautiously checked once more.

"Look, Harper, it's fine. Stop panicking, love." He smiled, placing a reassuring hand on the small of her back, which he held there until she had stood up. It seemed that he was not done pushing the infernal bed around yet.

* * *

The bed was marvelous. Not only was it ten times more comfortable to sleep on then her couch, it was massive, which is what Harper said she needed considering that she couldn't keep still for very long. The assembly itself had taken some time, nearly 3 hours to be precise, and the frame had managed to coax the most imaginative of expletives from Stu's mouth, but the ordeal was over now, and after more tea had been made and drunk, the tall man had left the apartment and gone back to his own. She had managed to find out more about her new neighbour though. Whilst he pulled the separate wooden pieces out of the box and she sorted the many screws into piles they chatted casually about his job, growing up in England, his family; and strangely enough spent an inordinate amount of time was spent talking about his nose. Sat cross-legged on the bed she picked up her iPhone to check the time, and upon seeing that it was later than she thought she decided to send Ryan a quick text. He replied with in minutes, a quick enquiry as to what she had been up to and a short declaration of his love for her. Her fingers danced over the screen whilst she debated what to write. Should she tell Ryan that Stu had already put the bed together? He was going to find out that the bed was up when he next visited her apartment anyway, but her mind told her to not tell him about her neighbour's help, and so she merely told him that the bed had arrived today. The next text back from him was odd. With no reference to the bed at all he asked the single question: "You seen your neighbour at all today?" Ryan was an incredibly jealous man; even becoming aggressive towards other men whose looks at her lingered for too long. A few months ago Ryan had smashed a vodka bottle over the head of a man who had offered to by Harper a drink outside of a bar. And whilst some people thought that Ryan's actions were sweet, plus the man flirting with her was both creepy and probably twice her age, Harper was terrified of what Ryan had done.

Harper's reply to Ryan took a few minutes to write. Eventually she decided on sending: 'yeah, he got the invoice for the bed. I invited him in for some tea, he's a really nice guy Ryan.' Once she had hit send she put the phone face down on her bed, not wanting to see what Ryan would say back. She drew her legs into her chest, her head resting on her knees whilst she focused on breathing calmly and not the sound of her heart hammering in her ears. The reply came within a minute, but Harper did not want to read it. She had retreated into her shy shell and could not find the courage to turn the phone over. After a few minutes she outstretched one arm, and turned the phone over. Unlocking the phone she closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. When she finally did manage to read the text that her boyfriend had sent her she couldn't stop the tears from falling-

"I really wish you hadn't done that, you know I don't like him. I don't know why you have to be so fucking stupid sometimes. He looks at you like you're a piece of meat. Don't come crying to me when he rapes you because I won't fucking give a crap.

We'll talk about this when I get home"

**As I've said time and time again before, reviews really do motivate me to write and I love to read what you guys think about my stories. So if you do have time post a review on what you do/don't like or what you think about the story so far, I really do appreciate your reviews, and the fact that you guys are still reading my insane ramblings!**

**Molly xxx**


	5. Chapter 5 : Letting the guilty prevail

**Thank you so much to the guest reviewer,_ msgemgem_ (who took the effort to review all of the chapters in one sitting!) and_ xj0j0x_ for your supposrt, it really does mean the world to me!**

**I am sorry if there are any grammatical errors! Please feel free to say something if there are any particularly annoying mistakes!**

**Italics are mostly flashbacks.**

* * *

The apartment was starting to look more like a home. More like her home, in fact. The furniture had been assembled and moved into suitable places, pictures and posters from her favourite movies had been hung from the walls, an eclectic collection of knick-knacks and photos had been scattered on practically every surface and Harper was now in possession of one large, extremely comfortable, brand new bed. She had felt bad about pulling her new neighbour away from whatever it was he had been doing and forcing him to build furniture for her, but one night's undisturbed sleep on its cushiony surface had erased any guilt from her mind. The bed was, for lack of a better phrase, simply _splendid._

In fact the only guilt she had left by the next morning was over her boyfriend. Ryan. She looked over to her mobile quickly at the thought of his name, it had been almost 24 hours since he had sent a text filled with spite to his girlfriend, Harper had not replied; she simply turned the phone off and placed it on her bedside table as she felt the tears fall from her eyes. Mercifully, sleep claimed her for it's own mere minutes later, releasing her from the guilt and anxiety that she felt. In a desperate attempt to forget about her emotions she had pre-occupied her mind with anything she could think to do. Since Harper had woken up she had busied herself with menial tasks; fluttering around her apartment setting everything straight over and over again, calling each of her interns, making 4 cups of tea, eating microwave noodles and even dusting until she had nothing left to do. She had called her parents, spending almost 2 hours talking to her mother, distracting herself from the thought of her boyfriend's impending return, but the distraction could not last forever, and after the line went dead when her conversation with her mother had ended, she could not think of a single thing to occupy her. She had been sat on her couch for almost an hour now, alone in her thoughts. She knew Ryan would be home any second now after being away for the weekend for his job. When he had left she had not wanted him to go, she wanted him to stay in her new apartment, just talking and laughing with each other like they once had, but Ryan's new promotion meant that he had to travel more to meet his bosses requirements. Of course, Harper didn't begrudge the fact that her boyfriend was working hard, he was making a name for himself and they both new that they would each have to make sacrifices for his career. In fact, it wasn't Ryan going away that Harper minded, it was him coming back that worried her.

"_Do you want anything babe?" Harper shouted over the noise of the drunken men screeching and laughing in the bar._

"_Yeah, just a lager thanks. Ryan replied as he delved back into the conversation he was having with his best friend, Scott, over the NFL. Harper didn't understand one sentence that the two men uttered, the terminology of the all-American sport lost on Harper's very British mind, and so instead of being involved in the conversation like Ryan said she would be when he had invited her out she was left to fantasise about what was currently happening on the latest episode of America's Next Top Model. _

_The young English girl picked up her small clutch bag and stood up to exit the booth that they were seated in, only to catch Scott's eyes wandering over the hem of the dress she was wearing. The black material of the short body-con dress hugged her slim figure, making her seem tiny in comparison to her athletically toned boyfriend, and the glittery heels she was wearing accentuated her already long, toned legs. She didn't want to be here, but Ryan insisted that she came. She didn't want to be wearing this outrageously short dress, but Ryan insisted that she wore it. She didn't want to catch Scott staring at her thighs whilst licking his lips either, but Ryan didn't seem to keen to do anything about that. In fact he just sat back and smirked at his best friend whilst Scott's eyes roamed up to stare at her chest, his tongue still wetting his lips. Suddenly overcome with embarrassment she turned away, walking off towards the bar, but not before hearing Scott turning to his best friend and half shouting "I would fuck your girl any day of the week." Harper walked quickly towards the bar, feeling the harsh prick of tears building in her eyes. Vowing that she would not cry, she sat down at one of the bar stools and ordered the three drinks. She couldn't believe Ryan, that he'd just sat there whilst Scott stared at her like he was liable to rape her on the table at any given moment. Ryan only wanted her here so he could parade the 'prize' he had claimed around whilst men leered at her. And all the men were leering, Harper thought, typical; put anything in a short enough dress and all men within a 5-mile radius suddenly want to jump it. _

_Overcome with anger towards her boyfriend, Harper stood up slowly from the stool and slinked over to the exit without catching the eyes of her unsuspecting boyfriend. The harsh, cold hit her as soon as she opened the door to leave, and she regretted not bringing a coat once the winter's air started biting her pale skin. She felt around in her clutch for her white iPhone with the intention of calling a taxi to take her back to the hotel she was staying at. If she wanted to leave she'd have to get out of the area quickly; it would be a matter of minutes before Ryan realised his piece of meat was missing. Fishing out the mobile phone she dialled the number of a local cab service and asked them to pick her up a few metres down the road, just far enough away from the bar that even if a drunken Ryan realised she was gone he would not venture out far enough to find her waiting. She dropped her phone back into her small bag and walked off to find her cab, when all of a sudden she felt the handcuff of a hand grip her tightly by the wrist._

"_Hello beautiful." The intoxicated man behind her muttered as he pulled her closer to his chest. She stumbled back slightly; the heels she was wearing making any sudden movement virtually impossible, and felt her back being supported by the man's stomach. He pulled her wrist behind her painfully, forcing her to twist her body towards him, her head practically leaning on his shoulder. The drunken male stepped back slightly, tugging her wrist more gently as he coerced her into turning around to face him. He was shorter than her, probably only because she was wearing heels, but he was also much larger than her too; at a first glance he just looked overweight, his round stomach misleading, but from a closer distance she could tell he probably went to the gym, the layers of surface fat hiding the strength underneath, a fact he was proving with the tight grip on her tiny wrist. Harper placed the man's age at around 45, the wrinkles on his forehead were deep and his beard was practically all grey, with the exception of a few black hairs. His forehead glistened with a thin sheen of sweat, his hair shaved as short as was possible. His grey eyes glistened with a mixture of determination and power, the glare teamed with his smile made Harper realise this would not end well for her. "Fancy a drink?"_

" _No. Let go of me," she started quietly, trying to sound confident, but failing in her terror._

"_Oh, an English one," he chuckled deeply "I knew a pretty girl like you would have a pretty accent too."_

"_My boyfriend, he's just in there_"_

"_Oh god no. He is?" The man's deep voice feigned worry and his face contorted into a look of shock for a brief moment before his smirk returned as he leant into Harper's face laughing. "He's not looking for you angel." He muttered as he leant in and stroked her cheek with his hand, the smell of alcohol and cigarettes hitting her senses, burning down her throat. Suddenly leaving her boyfriend didn't seem like such a brave idea, in fact she would rather be nestled under her boyfriend's arm listening to him natter on an on about men throwing balls around and wearing leggings than anywhere else right now._

"_Let go of me and go away." She muttered in one last-ditch attempt to rid her attacker. She pulled her arm in an effort to free herself, but the man was too strong. For the first time the situation hit her; she was angry with Ryan, angry with Scott and beyond terrified of this man. The tears welled up in her eyes once more as the emotions of the past 10 minutes hit her like a freight train, the vulnerability that ultimately controlled her feelings was taking control of her mind and she felt like she was dying. The familiar feeling built up in the pit of her stomach, a feeling of terror, that nothing was going to be ok and it was all her fault. Breathing became hard as the air she needed to survive became as thick as syrup, and she began to gulp it in, in short, uncontrollable breaths. Crying seemed like the only valid option, and the tears that fell from her eyes were almost a surprise at first, but she couldn't stop even if she wanted to, the drops of salty water a perverse comfort in her panic stricken state._

"_Aww the little girl is crying, keep it up sweetheart, you look better when you cry. Oh the things I'm gonna do to you_" his voice faded away as he lectured her on the many ways he would abuse her in the dark. He sounded he was underwater, the noise being contorted into odd sounds until she could barely hear him, but she knew he was still talking because she could see his lips moving. She gripped onto his forearm tightly as she felt her legs weakening, ready to give way at any moment. Her vision darkened, and random spots were flashing in front of her eyes._

_" Not now" she muttered to herself, unaware that she'd even said anything as she closed her eyes and focused on the sound of her hyperventilating. _

_"What did you say? Not now?!" He laughed as he looked at her; yanking the arm she was clutching away from her grasp "you're mine whenever I want you." He growled as he pushed her against the nearest wall. His hips held hers to the rough concrete, the hand holding her wrist tightened yet again and his other hand trailed up to her face, stroking over her lips, cheeks neck, any exposed flesh he could reach with his repulsive, dirty fingers. Eventually he stopped his caress and began moving his arm downwards, stopping when his forearm was pushed into her throat "now calm down and stop breathing like that" he whispered to her as he went in to kiss her lips. Harper pushed her head as far back into the wall as she could make it go, whimpering softly like a kitten, but his wet lips still crashed down on hers. He tasted like beer and smoke, and Harper felt disgusted in herself. She opened her eyes suddenly when she heard a familiar voice. "Get off her now you bastard" a man growled before she heard a loud crack and something small bounced off her face. The next thing she was aware of was the man sliding off her, slumping to the ground with blood pouring down his forehead. When he finally fell to the floor she looked up to the other man now stood in front of her. He had a few flecks of blood of his forehead and the neck of a smashed bottle in his hand._

_ "What do you think you're doing" Ryan snarled to his girlfriend, before she blacked out and hurtled forward into unconsciousness._

* * *

Harper woke with a start, confused as to where she was. After a few seconds of thought she realized that it was all a dream, and that she had fallen asleep whilst worrying about her boyfriend's return. She gulped in air quickly as her senses accustomed to the shock of waking up from that horrendous flashback, and her neck throbbed slightly from the angle that she had fallen asleep at. She sat up straight, stretching her neck out and sighing with pleasure as the vertebrae in her back let out a small, satisfied crack. Looking over to her phone's screen she realized that she had been asleep for the past 2 hours, yet she felt like she hadn't slept at all, the horrors of her dream still feeling as if they had only just happened, a thought which made her heart ache with fear.

She groaned under her breath as she pulled herself to her feet, picking up the mug of now cold tea that she had left on the table in front of her couch, and wandered aimlessly through her apartment to her kitchen. She deposited the drink down her sink and quickly filled the mug up with some cold water from the tap, drinking it down swiftly in an effort to regain her composure. She put the mug down on the kitchen surface and placed her hands down either side of the pink ceramic cup. Bearing most of her weight on her hands, she let her chin rest on her chest and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. _It was just a dream. It had all been a dream. A dream about something that had actually happened, but still a dream nonetheless. _She was bought out of her thoughts when she heard a sharp knock at the door. Focusing on her breathing, which had now returned to a normal speed, she walked to her front door and looked through the small glass peep-hole. Recognising the face on the other side of the thick wooden door, she put on the best smile she could conjure and opened the door.

"Hey sweetie." She began softly "how was it?"

"Fine." Ryan answered shortly as he followed his girlfriend into her apartment, kicking the door shut behind him. He threw his suit jacket onto her couch and loosened his tie with a few of his fingers, and surveyed the apartment. He noted the tables that had been placed in the living room since he had last been here, the framed movie poster for 'Inception" hanging on a wall, the picture of Rosie-Huntington Whitely that was hanging in a once empty place and the ornaments scattered everywhere. "I see you've done the place up a bit." He muttered.

"Yeah," Harper smiled again as she looked at her boyfriend "Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you, I was planning on putting your bed up for you straight away," he grinned sadistically at his girlfriend and Harper felt a small lump rise in her throat. "Oh no wait, you already got your new toy boy to do that for you."

"Ryan, you know_"

"Let me finish Harper" he chuckled, walking closer to his girlfriend. "I just want to be crystal clear on the whole situation y'know? So this Stu, he made the bed right?"

"Yes" Harper sighed, exasperated, knowing that she was fighting a losing battle already. Ryan would never let an argument finish until he was sure the other side had conceded.

"And he was in your bedroom?"

"Of course" she smiled with fake sweetness at her boyfriend "Ryan, I'm not going to take your bullshit over this, ok? A friend helped me make a bed because sleeping on the couch was hurting my back. Please enlighten me as to how I have sinned, yet again."

"And the sarcasm is back, what a surprise. Well, if you really must know, I ,as your boyfriend, do not like other men in your bedroom with you." Ryan spat at his girlfriend.

"Why not Ryan?!" she cried "what do you think we did? Do you think we slept together or something? Because let me tell you that that bed was bloody hard to construct, and nobody, not even you with you superior talents and powers, would be up for sleeping with anybody after building that thing! But you already know that, don't you? You know we didn't have sex with each other, you're just jealous. Again. You hate Stu, I can see it, he can probably bloody well see it too, you're that transparent! And I am tired of it, okay? You've met him once, give him a chance, he's lovely."

"He's not. He's a freakishly tall fuck with a bent nose and eyes that look like he can think of a thousand ways to kill you_"

"Oh shut up!" she shouted "It pisses me off that your so insanely jealous of everybody that I like! I don't care if you don't like him, because quite frankly I do like him. A lot. And you're not going to stop me from talking to him_"

"I can if I want to!" he shouted, matching the loudness of Harper.

"What are you going to do Ryan, smash a bottle over his head? Because I'm pretty sure you are no way near tall enough for that to ever happen_"

"Now you shut up Harper and you listen to me" Ryan barked leaning in closer to his girlfriend, staring at her ferociously "You have no right to talk to me like that! I was protecting you that day! Would you have liked me to have just let that sick fuck rape you in the street? No, okay, so appreciate what I've done for you!"

"Appreciate it! You terrified me Ryan. I was bloody petrified, and you left me at the side of the road so you could go and get drunk with Scott again. And I remember what happened that night when you came back. You hoped I would forget but how could I fucking forget that you treated me just like that man did, I was screaming and crying, but you just carried on so that you could get some sort of sick pleasure." Silence filled the room for and in the split second before Ryan reacted Harper noticed the way that the vein in Ryan's neck was pulsing rapidly, bulging underneath the flesh as he seared with anger. The palm of Ryan's hand made contact with Haprer's cheek, knocking her head to one side quickly. The pain burnt almost instantly, he must have put his full force behind that swing Harper thought. One of her own hands was quickly bought up to the sensitive flesh where she had been struck and she stepped back a few paces. Her cheek was on fire and she looked up at Ryan, her eyes filled with shock, horror and anger.

"Get out. Now" she whispered to her boyfriend.

"Harper, please. I am so sorry" he rushed closer to her and began to bring his hand up to her face " I didn't mean_"

"GET OUT!" Harper screamed at her boyfriend. She wanted to cry, lots, and could only hope that her boyfriend would be gone when she eventually did break down. Ryan looked down at his girlfriend, and his eyes looked genuinely sad as he surveyed her red cheek. Silently, he turned around and walked out of Harper's apartment, stopping to pick up his jacket on the way. As soon as Harper heard the door softly click shut she looked up.

He was gone.

She had won.

But the victory didn't feel like a victory at all. There was no smiling, congratulations or celebrating.

There was just a lot of tears.

* * *

**I know, I know, there was no Stu, please don't hate me! He will be in the next chapter, and if everything goes as planned he should be just adorable, so keep your eyes open! If you do have time to review, please do, I love to hear from you guys!**

**Molly xxx**


	6. Chapter 6 : The abandoned opens

**Hello again! So I'm really trying to update all of my stories at the moment, it really doesn't help that I've just started a new fic and that school is kicking my arse right now, but I'll cope. Anyway here is the new chapter, I hope you like it! Special thanks go to _xj0j0x_ and _msgemgem_ for being stars and reviewing the last chapter, I don't know what I'd do without you guys! **

**I'm sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors, I'm only human **

**Enjoy!**

The tears wouldn't stop falling. Harper didn't even know why she was crying, she was used to arguing with Ryan after all. The arguments with her boyfriend didn't distress her like they used to, he hadn't made her cry for months, but today was different. Maybe it was the fact that he had hit her, the moment still a shock in the English girl's mind. It sounded clichéd but she didn't even see it coming. Ryan's hand simply appeared from out of nowhere and smacked her round the face, sparks of pain and fire radiating from his palm and fingers. The loud and sharp slap noise that the contact had made was still audible in her mind when she thought about it, which unnerved her more than she would have liked. The pain in her cheek was happily coupled with the dull ache in Harper's neck; a pain which had been made more intense since that morning by the speed and strength with which Ryan had forced her head to move awkwardly at. She felt weak and useless. Totally incapable of doing anything.

She hated the sound of her crying, all sniffing and loud breathing. She knew she was an ugly crier, what she wouldn't give to cry with the elegance and beauty that Nathalie Portman or Leighton Meester supposedly did, but alas she did not. Instead she sat on her couch with tears rushing down her pale face. The thought of crying too was unbearable; she couldn't work out if crying was worse when you're on your own or with somebody else. 'It's the ultimate sign of weakness and defeat,' she thought, 'get a grip.' With the back of her hand she wiped the tears away from her face and leant back on to the sofa. She had to resort to holding her breath for at least 20 seconds at a time in an effort to stop her hyperventilating: yet another incredibly attractive aspect of her crying. She picked the remote for the television up from the place that it had been resting in her absence, and turned the television on. She tried to focus on the program, but in all of the 900 channels that she was supplied with the only thing that she could find to watch was The Notebook: bloody typical. Turning the channel over she tried to get comfortable watching the movie and attempted to forget about her worries and focus on nothing other than Ryan Gosling's face for the next hour and a quarter. She bought her legs up, and sat cross-legged whilst she leant back on the sofa and tried to engross herself in the last 75 minutes of heart-breaking rubbish, all the while wishing that her boyfriend's last name was Gosling.

After sitting in silence for a few moments her mind began to wonder back to the situation at hand again. She hated that Ryan had reduced her to this. Made her feel so crappy and insecure about herself all over again. Boyfriends were supposed to do the opposite of that, or so Ryan Gosling was according to this movie. She knew movies weren't real life though. They were fantasies, extensions upon fantasies that energetic minds dream up to fulfill dreams that would otherwise be left empty. Boys weren't like the movies. Her Ryan wasn't like Ryan Gosling.

In a moment of total honesty she realised that she didn't have a clue what boys were like, she didn't have any brothers, any male friends, and Ryan was her first boyfriend. She had given him everything for nothing in return. Maybe men _were_ all like this in real life.

She didn't even realize that she was crying again until she felt a warm tear drip onto her cheek. It wasn't really crying. She wasn't a sobbing mess like she had been, in fact it seemed like that one tear had just leaked from one of her eyes whilst watching the movie. Harper was glad in a way that she hadn't begun crying again, she simply hated crying. It made her feel all empty inside, but at the same time she was completely and uncomfortably full. Full with simply nothing. Looking like a train wreck had something to do with her intense hatred too.

It was in the solitude of one of Ryan Gosling's emotional speech scenes that it hit her: she was completely and utterly alone. She had moved halfway across the world and left all of her family and friends behind in the search of one job. She hadn't really made any friends in America either aside from the girls that she occasionally went out with from work, but this fact hadn't bothered her too much at first; she was an introvert after all. It wasn't as if she was particularly unpleasant or mean, socializing just appeared to be one of the things that she never quite got round to doing. The only solid friend she had was Ryan, and he was gone, and she wasn't sure whether she wanted him back. But the reason why their arguing over the past few days scared her was because this time it was serious, this time he could leave, and if he did leave for good she would have nobody. Nobody at all.

Her mind's wanderings ceased when she heard a knocking at the door. It was soft, quiet. Probably Ryan coming back to either argue or apologize. She got up and swiftly made her way to the door, she didn't really want to see Ryan, at all, but she was never one to be able to let a phone just ring out or to leave a door knock unanswered, it was one of her small pet hates. She made her way over to the door and wiped her eyes quickly in the sleeves of the hoodie she was wearing. Not even bothering to look through the peep-hole she pulled the door open, ready to face her boyfriend once more.

Or not.

The wooden door didn't reveal her infuriated boyfriend like she had expected it to. In fact, she didn't know whether or not the presence of the tall British man in front of her was a good or bad thing.

"Hi," Stu began quickly "I was just wondering whether or not you've got… Oh" he paused as he registered the tears in her eyes "is now a bad time, because I can go."

"Oh, no I'm fine!" she lied as she wiped her eyes with her hand "The Notebook's on TV, you know what us girls are like!" she joked as he grinned softly at her. She wasn't sure whether her believed her or not, quite frankly she didn't care.

"Oh, well, ok I just came round to see if you have any power, mine just went with about 10 minutes left to the end of this football match. Obviously you do have power so I'll just go and_"

"You can watch the rest of the game here if you want," she blurted out suddenly. The action surprised Harper a little bit, had she just invited him into her house again? "I mean I wasn't really watching the movie anyway, I caught it like halfway through, plus it's not really my cup of tea anyway."

"No, I couldn't impose like that love" he began

"Nonsense, you bought a bed up from the lobby for me, I still owe you!"

"Ok, if you want me to stay so bad I'll stay," he smirked at her briefly before his face fell: "Harper" he began solemnly "what happened to your face?"

"What?" she asked as she remembered the place where Ryan had hit her. She quickly bought her hand up to her cheek, covering the redness; it was incredibly tender; probably bruising as they spoke. "I opened a door into my face" she spoke slowly, almost conveying the fact that she was lying in the tone of her voice "silly me!" she added quickly in an effort to lighten the mood. He didn't look convinced, far from it. He just nodded curtly as he followed her into her house. "You know where the TV is, the remote is hanging around that general area, make yourself at home. I'm gonna get something to drink, do you want anything?"

"Uh no, no thanks," he muttered as he rummaged around the sofa trying to find the remote. Eventually, after finding the small gadget, he managed to turn the television over to the match and relaxed awkwardly into the sofa.

* * *

Harper stared at her reflection in the small mirror hanging on her kitchen wall, rubbing her cheek as she inspected the mark in the mirror. The area was a bright pink, and was already threatening to turn a light purple colour in some areas. Another wave of emotion flooded over her as she looked at herself in the mirror, and wondered how she had let this happen. She didn't look herself at all, instead she appeared frail and weak. Her eyes were dull and had lost the youthful spark they usually held, even her hair looked limp and tired. Pulling her hair out of the bun that she had fixed it in earlier that morning she attempted to push her locks around her shoulders in such a way that would hopefully hide any signs of a bruise. She wandered over to the sink and turned the tap on, mesmerized by the steady stream of water for a brief moment. She cupped her palms under the water and caught as much as she could, before splashing her face with it and repeated the action again. She eventually turned the tap off and dried her skin with a towel before walking back over to the mirror. Her eyes had awoken slightly, no longer swollen and red, and returned back to their normal state, but no amount of water would replace the missing glimmer of hope in her eyes that had been lost. She managed to finally tear her eyes away from her reflection, opened the fridge to get a can of lemonade and began to walk into the living room to watch the remains of the football with her neighbour. Internally sighing she sat herself down on the couch next to the tall man and managed to contort her face into some sort of smile: "who's playing?" she asked.

"Preston against Pompey," he replied staring at the men on the screen intently, shifting his glance over to the younger girl for a few seconds before looking back: "my team."

"Really?" She smirked slightly, forgetting about her cheek for a moment: "you know that Pompey are my guys right?"

"Well your team is shit," he replied grinning at the television.

"Oh yeah, that explains why they're winning."

"Give it time, you'll see." He smirked as he turned to look at his Harper again. She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes now looked empty and lost, gazing at him with an air of sadness about them. "Maybe you should get some ice for that," he muttered quietly gesturing towards her face as he spoke. As soon as the words left his lips her hand snapped into place covering her cheek.

"Oh no it's fine," Harper almost whispered back, "it barely hurts now," she lied.

He leant forward slightly, realizing the odd shape of the large mark on her cheek. He frowned as he leant closer to her, pushing her hair over her shoulder to stroke one of his big hands tenderly across her pink cheek, noticing how she flinched away as soon as his fingers made contact with the tender bruise.

"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." He whispered soothingly as he placed one hand on her forehead, gently turning her head so as to inspect the bruise further, the football game forgotten in his mind. Seeing that resistance was futile she turned with him and looked away as she felt his eyes boring into her, inspecting the bruised area. As soon as she felt one of his fingers trace the bruise she felt the prick of tears in her eyes, and began valiantly trying to hold them back.

His finger traced the outline of the mark, as he slowly realized that the bruise was not in the shape of a door. The bruise was mainly circular on her cheek, but from a closer distance he could tell that it actually stretched out into a line reaching to just above her eyebrow. The more he stared he realized that the line on the side of her face was actually made up of four smaller lines, oblong in shape; like sausages. Or fingers.

He inspected the area once more before guiding her head back to face him. His expression was unreadable and he no longer looked sympathetic. Harper could tell that he was not happy. She tried to push herself further away from him, but the strong hand that he had placed on her shoulder wouldn't let her escape. The tears welled up once more as she looked from his hand to his face, not being able to bring herself to look into his eyes.

"Harper," he began darkly, speaking in a low, quiet tone. "How did you get that bruise?" he asked, mimicking his earlier question to her.

Suddenly the words were lost in Harper's mouth, choking her into silence. She couldn't tell him, he was her neighbour, and they'd only known each other for 5 days, hardly long enough for her to confide in him the fact that her boyfriend scared her.

"It's not from a door is it?" he asked again as a single tear slipped out from one of her eyes. Stu's demeanor softened at seeing the sudden sign of emotion, but his face hardened again as he spoke.

"Did that son of a bitch hit you?" he asked darkly, his hand clamping down a little too harshly on her shoulder.

She didn't think she could tell anyone, but in that moment she knew she could tell him. She felt comfortable around him, safe even. More tears fell as she nodded and her voice cracked as she whispered the word "yes," feeling ashamed and embarrassed that she'd let her boyfriend walk all over her like he had. She barely even noticed herself being pulled into her neighbour's arms, too distressed to care about what was happening around her, instead turning her head to cry into the material of his shirt. She wrapped her slender arms around his neck and held herself to him, terrified of him leaving the apartment and her being alone again. She hardly heard the words of reassurance that he whispered into her ear, reminding her of his strong presence; instead she buried her head further into his embrace, not wanting to talk about it, because she wasn't sure what she would say. Yes, she thought that she loved Ryan, that they had a future together, but that fact had changed her from the girl she once was. The girl that had so much ambition and hope when she boarded the plane to leave England. Now she had been turned into some domestic housewife, waiting for her boyfriend's arrival back home so that she could cater to his every need. He wouldn't let her go out on a Saturday night or go back home to visit her family in the holidays, and the reason why she didn't have any new friends in America was because Ryan wouldn't let her. Ryan didn't even like that she had such a powerful job and had hinted that if she were to quit he could support the both of them numerous times before. And instead of arguing with him about these points like they once had she just let him do it. She sat back and watched her life slip away from her, all for 'love.' There was a line between love and total submission, and in her teary state she realised that she had crossed it. Ryan dictated her, Ryan controlled her. Ryan owned her; and instead of feeling scared about this she felt hatred, hatred for Ryan, the man who had turned her into this, but more importantly hatred for herself, the girl who had let it happen.

**What do you guys think? I'd love to hear from you through a review, it really does inspire me hearing what you think about each new chapter, so if you have a few spare seconds I really would like to hear your views! Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7 : Slaving for justice

**I'm back! Thank to **_xj0jox, msgemgem _**and** _ConchaaRex _**for being fabby and reviewing the last chapter, words cannot express how much I appreciate it.**

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Luckily the tears did not last long, probably as a result of her crying almost all of her tears before her neighbour had arrived. As she eventually sniffed the final breaths of sadness away she released her hold on Stu slightly, and, after taking a deep breath, managed to pull her head away from where it rested in the crook of his neck. Using the sleeve of her hoodie she wiped away the stray tears on her cheeks and let out a long steady breath, before realising where she was and what she was doing. Quickly springing out of her neighbours lap she opened her mouth to apologise profusely.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Stu I don't know what came over me." She began, her eyes flickeringly around the room in a desperate bid to avoid the piecing gaze of the large man in front of her.

"Hey, don't worry about it." He stated quietly as he glanced over to the front door quickly. The football match was now long over and as much as he liked Harper, he couldn't bear being in the room any longer. His hands began to fidget nervously as she began to speak again.

"Do you know who won the match?" she asked quickly, trying to banish the awkward silence from the room.

"Pompey." He answered back, unsure of what else to say.

The silence returned as Harper nodded slightly and looked around the room, her mind screaming at her to say something. She noticed her neighbour slowly rise to his feet before he joined her, standing in the silence. It took his mind forcing him to eventually make him want to speak.

"I guess I better be off now. I mean I need to ring the electricity board and sort that out." He finally said, wanting to exit the room as quickly as possible.

Harper stared at him momentarily before realising where the conversation was going, he was leaving her. "Oh yeah, sure. You can, erm, go back to yours now." She started quietly before looking up to give him a reassuring smile. The grin faltered briefly, but the tall man was with his back to her, practically out of the door already, and did not notice the break in composure.

Stu stopped before he pulled the door open completely, his large fingers gripping the doorknob tightly as he turned around to face Harper. "If he, I mean Ryan, comes back you can always shout round if you need anything, you know?" He smiled quickly as he pulled the door open fully and slinked out the apartment almost in a flash. The door slammed behind him, and Harper listened as she heard his door close loudly as well. She looked around at her surroundings from where she was stood in the middle of the room, rubbing her forearm and sighing slightly as she did so.

"Yeah, I know."

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It was the evening when Ryan waltzed into his girlfriend's apartment complex, roses in one hand and his best fake sympathy eyes in place. He had changed out of his suit and into a pair of jeans with a dress top. He winked at the receptionist and smirked at her giggly response as he pressed the elevator buttons and waited for the lift to arrive. Still smiling he turned to the lift and waited for the metal doors to open, imagining how his girlfriend would burst into tears and apologise profusely, begging him to forgive her as soon as the door opened. How he would play the part of the accepting boyfriend and take all of the affection that Harper would throw at him. All night long.

Because after all, that was the type of girl Harper was.

The elevator doors opened mid thought, the small 'ding' bringing Ryan out of his imagining. He stepped into the extravagant elevator and rolled his eyes as he inspected the inside. It was fancy and bright and modern. Generally a nice lift. But a lift that should be inside his building instead of his girlfriend's, after all he was the man in the relationship. A rich one at that. He should be living in a place like this, not her. It was a lovely apartment in a lovely area, granted he had seen a smashed tv outside of the entrance, but even that didn't really spoil the beautiful complex. He sighed sharply as he looked around the annoyingly nice elevator, failing miserably to treat the delicate flowers in his right hand with care. Instead he gripped the stems violently, taking his anger out on the red flowers until water began to drip out of the stems and onto his shoe. The liquid was shaken off with nothing but a few curse words as a goodbye.

Ryan looked up at the door opened, replacing the now agitated look on his face with an over exaggerated smile. Stepping out the elevator and walking down the corridor, he inspected the small pile of things stationed outside his girlfriend's door. His smile fell again as he walked closer to the pile, realising the shirts and jumpers to look eerily like his own. There was a small golden chain necklace on top of the material, which he picked up, feeling the cool metal glide against his skin as he inspected the small diamond hanging from the links, noticing how the chain had literally been pulled apart in two places. It looked almost identical to the one he had given Harper for her birthday. But it couldn't be, she loved that necklace, she never took the damn thing off. There was no way she would be so careless as to accidently drop it without realising, or to snap it. So why was it on the soft carpeted floor outside of her house, with the clothes that she had borrowed from him to wear. You can't drop clothes without realising it, so then why was_

"Bitch!" Ryan exclaimed loudly, standing up abruptly and pounding his fist on the door.

The door was pulled open within seconds, revealing Harper wearing shorts and a vest top. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and her natural makeup accentuated the huge smile on her face.

"Oh, Hi Ryan!" She smiled even more sweetly at him, her voice shining with innocence.

"What the fuck is this all about?" he shouted again, flamboyantly pointing to the possessions outside her door and noticing the DVDs peering out from underneath a few shirts. They were the ones that he had lent to Harper when she had the flu.

"Oh that! Yes, well seeing as we're no longer together, I took all of your things out of my apartment and left them out here for you to collect when you came round to spew some love story so that I would forgive you." She smiled again at Ryan's horror stricken face, noticing the vein throbbing angrily again.

"Everything should be there." She began again, leaning against the doorframe as she looked down at the pile, "I mean the TV isn't there, you know the big, expensive one that you moved from your place to mine whilst I was looking for a new television?" Again, Ryan said nothing. "I got it off the wall, but it was super heavy and you know how weak I am, and I must have accidentally dropped it. Out of the window. I just can't think how something like that would happen_"

"You threw my TV out the window?! That was my TV back there?" he screamed at Harper.

"Oh gosh no, I _dropped _it. It _fell_ out of the window." She smiled again sweetly at her ex. "It was in no way premeditated or intentional."

Ryan stared at Harper for a brief few seconds, wanting to slap the irritating smile of hers right off her face: "you have some nerve."

"Well, I was going to ask Stuart to help carry it out here, but I wouldn't want to upset you by getting another man to help move a television, and I just couldn't carry it on my own. It just slipped."

"You dare mock me! You have no idea what I could have done for you. We were great together! We could get married and you'd never have to work again, but no Harper wants to be a big girl and do shit on her own. Little Miss Harper is perfectly capable of doing everything on her own. Well fuck you Harper, you're gonna regret the day you let a guy like me slip through your fingers." The vein was becoming more pronounced by the second and he was practically roaring his phrases.

"Gosh Ryan, you just spat a little there. Kinda gross." Harper smirked as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I'd love to chat more, but I'm afraid I simply hate you just too much to want to. I'd appreciate it if you never knock on this door again otherwise I will have literally no issues with calling the police." Her voice became lower and darker as she spoke: "I know you're not scared of me, but I swear to God I could get you locked up for rape and abuse. So don't you ever come here again, don't talk to me, don't ring me and don't bloody well text me either, Ryan. It's over."

And with that the door was slammed in his face.

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Stu was called to his front door by a loud and fast banging on his door. Cursing under his breath at whoever was trying to pummel his door with their fist he sauntered over to the door, swinging it open quickly. The sight he was greeted with caused him to smirk.

"Oh god, you have to fucking help me, I think it's broken." Ryan spoke frantically, blood pouring out of his nose and pooling in his cupped hands. "I-I don't know what to do, I need ice or some shit like that. The bitch over the corridor slammed the fucking door right in my face after I broke up with her."

"Oh really?" The brit chuckled deeply as he finally spoke, "because the way I heard it from in here sounded like she broke up with you."

Ryan stared at Stu for a few seconds, neither man moving as Ryan inspected the smirk plastered on the tall man's face.

"Stay right here." Stu muttered as he ordered Ryan around like a dog, before closing the door loudly. Ryan flinched back nervously, trying to protect his already damaged nose from the hard and painful wooden door. He would have shouted at the door, but the increasing amount of blood stopped him. Instead he kicked the door, but the sturdy word merely made his toes hurt. The door was pulled open roughly again by Stu who was stood there with a tea towel in one hand and a bag of ice in the other.

"Clean yourself up and hold this on it," Stu began as he gave the towel to Ryan and handed over the ice a few moments later, "I don't want blood all over my apartment's entrance, thank you very much." He paused, looking a the sorry excuse of a man in front of him as he felt his anger boil up. "Just for the record I know what you did to Harper, and I am not happy about it. One bit. But I am pretty happy about the fact that she finally showed you the respect you deserved and kicked you to the curb. You better listen to what she said, mate, because if you ever come back here again, I might have to do something much worse to your handsome face than just give you a broken nose."

He inspected the sorry state in front of him before starting to close the door, stopping only because a foot was wedged in his door and because of the warbled cries of the man outside.

"Wait, you have to take me to the hospital, you dick! I need to get this sorted out!" Ryan demanded like a small child.

"Mate, look at me. As I'm sure you can tell I'm not good with knowing what to do with broken noses," he motioned to his own crooked nose, "if you really want to get it sorted out you're gonna have to drive there yourself because I am obviously not qualified to pass judgement on what to do in a scenario like this. You don't need it done though, I've never had my nose re-set and it's been broken more times than I can count, and I'm just fine."

"Why would I ever want to fucking well look like you!" Ryan exclaimed, angered by the fact that his demands weren't being met.

"Well, Harper would probably like you a hell of a lot more." The Brit smiled at the man as he closed the door again, smiling as he noticed the look of shock on Ryan's face. As the door clicked shut he could hear Ryan screaming through the door, cursing his head off. He chuckled as he sat down, relishing in the thought that Ryan had finally got what was coming for him. He was proud of the slim girl across the hall for standing up for her arse of an ex.

He cursed himself as he remembered how he had run away from her earlier, and scrubbed his face with his hands as he contemplated what he had done, the look of sadness on Harper's face as he rushed out ingrained on his mind. He worried about whether or not he had caused her more pain by leaving her alone like that, but upon further reflection he realised he did not need to worry so much. Why would she bother getting upset over a guy like him anyway, she was way out of his league. Sighing as he leant back on his chair he smiled sadly as he imagined how she had stood up to Ryan, without the aid of him to back her up. She was stronger than she realised, and infinitely more beautiful. It was a bittersweet moment when Stu finally realised that she could make it through life on her own.

Despite his sadness, he smiled a true, albeit small, smile.

She would be just fine without him.

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**I've got to admit I had real difficulty getting into the swing of writing this chapter, and I don't feel like it's that great, but I realise I owe you guys an update, so here it is! I also realise it's not the longest of updates either, but hopefully you can forgive me! If you do have enough time for a quick review I would really like to hear what you guys think!**

**Molly xx**


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